Edwin van der Sar’s quest for the British record for minutes without conceding has been questioned by Chris Woods.

The record-holder and former England goalkeeper has disputed the Dutchman's claim to his own piece of history.

Van der Sar bettered Steve Death's long-standing English football league record by continuing his clean sheet run to 1,122 minutes during Man United's 1-0 victory against Everton at Old Trafford the week before.

The Dutch keeper's record now stands at 1,212 minutes after the Red Devils' match against West Ham at Upton Park, allegedly surpassing the British record set by Woods with Glasgow Rangers in the 1986-87 season.

The current Everton goalkeeping coach had his 1,196 minute shut-out run ended by Adrian Spott in a 1-0 upset against Hamilton in the winter of 1987.

Woods is adamant that his British record is safe for the moment, as Van der Sar needs at least another three games to break his record after factoring the Hideo Hashimoto's injury-time goal conceded by the Dutchman during Man United's 5-3 win against Gamba Osaka in the Fifa Club World Cup semi-final in Japan on Dec 18 into the equation.

"Edwin's achievement in breaking the Football League record last week was an unbelievable feat but, as far as I'm concerned, he is still quite a way from beating my British record," said Woods in an interview. "Nobody seems to be counting the goal he conceded in Japan, but if you take that into consideration, then his run in all competitions stands at nine games or 810 minutes."

"It was obviously a Fifa-recognised fixture, so I would have thought that any goals conceded in that game would count towards a British record. We are not just talking about league fixtures because my record covered both league and cup games," added the former England custodian.

In the league, Van der Sar's goalless run dates back to November 8, after Samir Nasri's goal in the 2-1 loss to Arsenal. Bookmakers have been offering odds since two weeks before, not only for Van der Sar to break Death's and Woods' record, but also Abel Resino's world record which stands at 1,275 minutes.

However, Woods is confident that his name will remain in the record books for the time being, citing the aggregate minutes in all competitions to be a key factor.

"I should have had a bet on Edwin not breaking my record when the odds came out because he is still more than three games away from my total if you take into account the game in Japan," explained Woods. "He might actually go on and beat it and, if he does, then I will be the first to congratulate him, but he is still some distance away from achieving it."